


When My Time Comes Around

by ohstardust



Series: The Holiday!AU [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, I like getting self indulgent with my favourite characters and films, Prelude to a full length standalone piece, The Holiday! AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21963142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohstardust/pseuds/ohstardust
Summary: Every ounce of Christmas spirit had been drained from your body and you were ninety-eight percent sure you were going to die from exhaustion and dehydration - or at least pass out - that was only thing that would likely stop you from crying yourself to an early grave. You definitely didn't expect a message from Rebecca Barnes asking to house swap with you a few days before Christmas, and even more unexpected was her brother, Bucky.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Reader, James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader
Series: The Holiday!AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1581115
Kudos: 8





	When My Time Comes Around

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know, this is supposed to be a drabble but I couldn’t get it to flow in 500 words. I’m still not entirely convinced by this piece. However, please think of this as a teaser for a longer piece I’m hoping to have out in the next couple of weeks. 
> 
> Written for @interestedbystanderwrites 12 Days of Christmas Drabbles - December 14th

Every ounce of Christmas spirit had been drained from your body and you were ninety-eight percent sure you were going to die from exhaustion and dehydration - or at least pass out - that was only thing that would likely stop you from crying yourself to an early grave.

It was all too evident that this turn of events would happen sooner rather than later, everyone saw it coming, but you just didn’t want to admit to it, you still had little naive inklings of hope that life would work out in _your_ favour for once. It was a dreadful feeling not being able to muster up the happiness for your dearest friends engagement, you really ought to have been elated, and, in all honesty, you would have been had Rachel not been marrying the man that you were still, partially, in love with.

It was too much, and you could barely breathe every time the thought crossed your mind. It was painfully nauseating, and the very thought made your insides twist and contort - you were utterly devastated. Everything in you _hurt_.

A bizarre chain of events led you out to Brooklyn that lonely and godawful Christmas, all it took were a few exchanged internet messages, a plane ticket and a woman named Rebecca Barnes to change the course of your life and everything you thought you once knew. Rebecca was the catalyst that threw you into a tailspin and flipped both of your worlds on their heads.

There was no pinpointed defining moment in which you felt a shift in your temporary Brooklyn life; it wasn’t stepping off the plane at JFK Airport and navigating their public transport system – although you did pride yourself in making it to the Barnes household without making a wrong subway choice -, nor was it finding yourself a few thousand miles away from home with no plan, just a sense of freedom. That defining moment wasn’t even meeting Becca’s brother for the first time, although it most certainly came close, that would be the one you’d choose if anyone asked you.

James Barnes – or Bucky as he’d so insistently asked you to call him – stumbled across you by chance. He hadn’t meant to be visiting that week, he’d arrived a week later than usual to start with the Christmas pleasantries and to have dinner with his sister, life had just been busier this year. You were both startled by the other when he first rung the doorbell and he’d struggled to hide his hurt that his sister hadn’t informed him that she was skipping town (or country) for the holidays, and made a mental note to ask Steve & Peggy if they would mind terribly if he joined them.

That initial mildly awkward meeting turned out to merely be the start of a blooming, and blossoming, _whatever_ it was. It still took the better part of a week for you to really open up to Bucky, to start letting your guard down, men had made you understandably cautious, but there was something about the stranger that made him appear trustworthy to your heart and you wanted to believe he was every bit as _lovely_ as he appeared. Your heart was feeling lighter, less weighted down by the guilt of harbouring feelings for your best friend’s _fiancé,_ you hadn’t slept this well in months. And Bucky? To say he was smitten with you would have been a gross understatement. He’d spent five out of your first eight evenings in the city with you, ordering takeout or cooking for you, watching old movies, drinking hot cocoa in coffee houses with steamed up windows. It was idyllic and dreamlike.

It took another two days to realise that you would be spending Christmas day alone, and you hadn’t replied to a single text message or email that Rich had sent to you. It was funny how your holiday loneliness highlighted your lack of engagement with an ex-partner. That evening you turned your phone over and over in your hands as you tried to focus on Bucky’s tales, a terribly funny childhood story of him and Becca that you couldn’t bear to muster up any more than a smile.

“What is it? You’re really quiet tonight, is something wrong?”

You placed your phone back on the arm of the sofa and tried to smile a genuine smile for him, “It’s nothing, I’m being ridiculous, continue your story.”

Bucky wasn’t a stupid man, nor was he blind, “It’s him isn’t it?”

“He’s irrelevant.”

“I know you want him to be but you can’t switch off your feelings like that, no matter how much I wish you could.”

He took your hand into his and squeezed it comfortingly, “How about you come over to my friend’s house for Christmas? There’ll just be the four of us, you can drink until you’re rosy cheeked, we can eat until we can’t move, and you can make this vacation enjoyable – just forget about him for a day.”

The urge to embrace Bucky should have felt more foreign than it did, it was unexpected but when you turned with wet eyes and a small smile on your face and leant forward to cuddle into him on the sofa in front of the flickering fire, everything felt like it was finally clicking into place again. You weren’t thinking about how you missed that ex-partner that never deserved you to begin with, you were realising it was time to let go and welcome someone into your life that really does deserve you. And if that was Bucky Barnes? Well maybe the heartbreak was a stepping stone to something far bigger and better.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr at [ohstardust](https://ohstardust.tumblr.com) if you wanna chat about characters, writing or just a general chit chat.
> 
> I've also started a fic rec blog too over at [ohmoonbeam](https://ohmoonbeam.tumblr.com).


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